New Delhi: Power utilities and steel sector companies including NTPC, DVC and SAIL owe Rs 6,873 crore to CIL, Parliament was informed on Tuesday.

"There is a substantial amount of overdues on various public sector utilities of the Coal India Ltd (CIL) and its subsidiaries," Minister of State for Coal Pratik Prakashbabu Patil said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha.

Of Rs 6,873 crore, power major NTPC has to pay Rs 1,814 crore, followed by West Bengal Power Development Corp which owes Rs 1,030 crore. Damodar Valley Corporation and MPPGCL owe more than Rs 700 crore each, Patil said.

The list of consumers having outstanding dues include SAIL and electricity boards in various states.

The Minister said the coal major and its subsidiaries "are continuously pursuing the matter with the public sector utilities to recover the dues."

"In certain cases, the matter has been taken up with the respective state governments. The issue was also taken up by the Inter-Ministerial sub group constituted to monitor supply of coal to various power utilities," he added.

Coal India has set for itself an ambitious 492 million tonne (MT) production target for the next fiscal even as it is set to miss the current fiscal's 464 MT target by a whisker.

The state-run PSU accounts for over 80 percent of the country's domestic requirement of the coal.